


[h]eretic

by streetlights



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 13:19:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12508328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/streetlights/pseuds/streetlights
Summary: Every android has their own form of worship. For 2B, it comes in the form of sacrifices.





	[h]eretic

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Ending E.

_“Thus do the gods justify the life of man: they themselves live it - the only satisfactory theodicy! Existence under the bright sunshine of such gods is regarded as desirable in itself.”_

\- Friedrich Nietzsche, Birth of a Tragedy

 

 

There is nothing holy in what they do. The thought festers inside her, ghosting over every thrust of her sword as it slashes through bolts and metal. Some, from machines. Others, from androids.

 _Her_ android, if she could ever claim 9S as hers.

 

 

Every android has their own form of worship. Some of them lose themselves in research of the old world, like scholars of a new theology. And some go further, participating in odd human traditions that have very little meaning for them: creating families, drinking wine, mourning the dead with flowers. 9S, in particular, often liked to bathe despite it being completely unnecessary.

Their greatest form of worship, however, is the war. To reclaim Earth and bring mankind back to its former glory; the holy crusade.

But for 2B, her worship comes in the form of sacrifices.

 

 

She falls in love with her priest. It sickens her to the core.

9S preaches with devout intensity. And she listens, drinking up his hymns and his prayers like the sweetest wine. He tells her of the old world - the world she hated so much. The world she longs to protect.

He teaches her the wonders of human emotions. It’s utter blasphemy, she thinks. How can they possibly believe that they can understand what it means to be human? To become gods themselves?

She retches oil and her vision blurs. It’s diabolical how 9S makes everything human so _alluring_.

 

 

The Commander doesn’t approve her request to change partners. It’s her curse to bear, she supposes; an appointed witch amidst an army of holy knights.

So she strides with purpose and plunges the sword cleanly to his neck. His death is short and painless, but he will soon be revived again. And again. And again.

If she could only cleanse him from his sins and bring him true salvation. If she could only...

 

 

He falls limp into her arms; a hollow sacrifice of broken metal and faulty code. An offering to the gods.

She does not feel the blessing.

**Author's Note:**

> I guess it shows that I haven't been writing (this is my first writing in three years). This isn't my best work, of course, but hopefully this fic will get me out of my stump and get me back to writing again.


End file.
